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Mar-a-Lago Now The Center Of Trump's Transition; Ukraine, Russia Trade Massive Drone Attacks Over Weekend; Questions Over U.S. Mideast Policy In Second Trump Term; China Braces For Unpredictability In Its Relations With U.S.; 6.8 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Off Coast of Eastern Cuba. Aired 10-11p ET

Aired November 10, 2024 - 22:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[22:00:27]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: Hello and thanks so much for joining us. I'm Jim Sciutto, live in Washington, where it's 10:00 p.m. on the West Coast in the evening out west.

In the days since the presidential election, Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate has become the center of the U.S. political world filled with people angling for jobs in his new administration and those hoping to help influence Trump's picks for those top spots.

Trump advisers have been holding formal meetings with the transition team and the president elect each day presenting him with input on a wide range of policy and personnel choices. Trump is expected to announce several key positions in the coming days. Some believe he will bring back among them Tom Homan who served as acting director of ICE, that is Immigration and Customs Enforcement during Trump's first administration. Sources say that Homan may serve as a czar-like position in fulfilling Trump's campaign promise to carry out, quote, the largest mass deportation of undocumented migrants in U.S. history.

One person who does not seem to have any desire to fill a spot in the new administration is nonetheless playing a very key role in the transition process.

Alayna Treene has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home has been teeming with allies and members, and potential new officials over the last 48 hours, as many people are angling for a top spot in his second administration or trying to influence him and who he will select for those roles. But the one person who's really been looming over all of it has been Elon Musk.

Now, of course, Elon Musk was on stage with Donald Trump his top campaign advisers and his family on Tuesday night when he declared victory during the election but he's also been at Mar-a-Lago and around Donald Trump in the days since. I'm told many days this week he dined with Donald Trump just the day after the election. He brought his children to Trump's Florida home where Donald Trump gave them a tour of his resort.

But he's also been sitting in many times when he's been with Donald Trump on some of the calls from foreign leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Now, I'm also told that Elon Musk has been weighing in on some of Donald Trump's potential picks, making it clear to the president-elect who he believes should have that role and he's also been calling up allies of Donald Trump himself, including lawmakers and starting to in exert his influence in that way as well.

Now one thing that we saw happen on Sunday is that he came out and waited into the Senate Republican leadership fight. He quickly endorsed Florida Senator Rick Scott after Scott had supported an idea from Donald Trump to allow for recess appointments essentially trying to make sure that he can swiftly confirm some of his nominees and in many times bypass the Senate confirmation process three of the men are vying for that spot but Elon Musk said that he supports Rick Scott.

And I'll just say, Musk has been very influential. He is very close with Donald Trump specifically so in these final weeks before Election Day where he has been out there campaigning for the former president. And now, he is spending a lot of time with Donald Trump and making it clear that he's going to be a top person who Donald Trump relies on as we look ahead.

Now, sources familiar with the conversations say that Musk is not expected to take on some formal role in Donald Trump's second administration. Donald Trump has mused before that he would love for him to be a cabinet secretary however uh Musk and others believe that he could have just as much power on the outside.

Alayna Treene, CNN, West Palm Beach, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Thanks to Alayna.

I'm joined now by Mark Longabaugh, Democratic strategist who worked on Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign, and Asa Hutchinson, former Republican governor of Arkansas, now a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Good to have you on. Appreciate you taking the time on this Sunday evening.

Asa, let me begin with you. Elon Musk -- I mean, besides the enormous amount of money he put into Trump's campaign and, of course, the role that X played in delivering Trump's message including some of it frankly disinformation in the run up to the election, why Elon Musk in such a senior role such an influential role for Trump? And is that a good thing in your view?

ASA HUTCHINSON, RESIDENT FELLOW, HARVARD INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: Well, first of all, I agree with the reporter, Jim that Musk role will be from outside the government. [22:05:04]

He doesn't want to go through a Senate confirmation. He doesn't want to have the disclosures that are required of it have been Musk role will be from outside the government. He doesn't want to go through a Senate confirmation. He doesn't want to have the disclosures that are required of an administration official.

But, obviously, he'll carry a big stick within the administration from the outside and his role will be a broad portfolio. Trump obviously listens to him, respects him. Obviously, there's conflicts of interest here but what you'll see in a second Trump administration is a very bold actions that might do away with traditions and some of the guard rails that you usually -- usually see in administration so it won't be the Wild West, but it'll be close to it.

SCIUTTO: So let's talk, Mark, about one of those guardrails and Asa referenced it there which is that he has an enormous amount of business with the U.S. government. Space contracts as with Tesla, Trump has promised to go to war to some degree on electric vehicles. So he has skin in the game.

What are the guard rails if any to adjudicate or modify or somehow provide some -- some standards, right, to that relationship and how he might push his own interest, or how he might expect favors in return from Trump?

MARK LONGABAUGH, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It's one of the most extraordinary situations that we've had in history. We've got a billionaire individual who has literally billions of dollars at stake in terms of government contracts, and whether they're satellites space-related situations and I would just say, you know, Trump ran the early part of this campaign blasting the transition to electric vehicles but backed off of that once Musk endorsed him.

So I think it's very, very troubling, the kind of influence that this billionaire outsider who actually. Also, let's be clear, owns one of the -- one of the, you know, key social media news influencing with X that we have in our society. So I just think it's troubling all the way around and what we can do to stop it. I'm not quite clear.

SCIUTTO: Listen, yeah, he backed off his sort of blanket attacks on electric vehicles but still tried to appeal to union voters, in states such as Michigan, concerned about transition to election vehicles -- electric vehicles, raises the issue as to whether he provide cover for Tesla but not for other automakers that that make electric vehicles. Listen, it's a long list of things and Governor Hutchinson, you referenced that big picture in terms of a disappearance of guardrails.

So, tell me, do you think in the Republican Party, given that Republicans will control the Senate as well likely the House, are there Republicans who you believe maintain an interest in guardrails and a willingness to back them up? You know Republicans who who've attempted to stand up to Trump have been -- well, they've been voted off the island as it were.

But do you believe that there are Republicans in the Senate and the House who were willing to rescue some guardrails?

HUTCHINSON: Well, clearly, Donald Trump goes in with a serious mandate. Different than the first term he won the popular vote he surprised everybody with the strength of his showing with the Electoral College. Clearly, that resonates with Republican House and Senate members.

And so, they're very attuned to that in their states and districts the level of support of Donald Trump. So, he's going to have difference. He's going to have a lot of swag as he goes into his agenda and is broadly supported, whether it's border security, whether it is reforming the Justice Department or whether it is in the international arena. So he has broad support going in there, he's going to have a season of grace.

But he's going to be tested. He's going to be tested and we'll see whether the Republicans will stand up and whether it's a recess appointments that they push back on or whether it's some other way that you they that the administration tries to bypass Congress. It will be tested and it's unknown as to the outcome of that right now.

SCIUTTO: So, Mark, who leads the way for Democrats at this point. I mean, let's be frank, it's not clear.

So who do you think has a chance right to lead the way not just in terms of walking the Democratic Party back to electoral viability in the midterms and in the next presidential cycle, but in terms of leading -- I think resistance is too strong a word -- but trying to hold back some of the more extreme parts of the Trump agenda from the Democratic perspective?

[22:10:23]

LONGABAUGH: Well, listen I think we are in for a long period of reassessment and rebuilding party. I mean, clearly, clearly, this was devastating defeat. It looks like the Republicans will control both Houses of Congress.

But if I were to say in terms of the front lines, obviously, we've got governors in major states across the country that I think are already, you know, Gavin Newsom in California, Pritzker in Illinois, even our nominee for Vice President Walz in Minnesota who have signaled that they're not going to roll over and let Donald Trump trample, you know, the prerogatives and rights of the citizens of their states. So I think that's going to be one nexus.

And I also think the House is going to be very right on the knife's edge. You know, it does look like the Republicans are going to -- are going to grab it, but, you know, we still have an outside shot. Whichever way it goes, it's going to be -- it's going to be razor thin.

And so, I think Hakeem Jeffries is a -- is a new and younger leader and I think he could be a forceful figure in terms of putting -- putting these guard rails that governor Hutchinson's talked about trying to put some of those in place. SCIUTTO: The mass deportation plan is one that was quite public during

the campaign Governor Hutchinson beyond that what do you consider Trump's most likely domestic priority that you're most focused on?

HUTCHINSON: Well, of course, water security would be top as you mentioned but the economy is something that he will look for the extension of his tax cuts. He'll ask Congress to support that and he's also promised things like eliminating the federal income tax on tips and that's something that he has to have congressional support for.

So I think that he will first look at executive action to have some quick wins. It will probably be in the area of reforming the regulatory environment, doing away with some of the mandates and also making sure that the Justice Department is reformed, looking at the new attorney general to do that.

So you're going to be looking at executive action for quick victories. Longer term, he's going have to work with Congress to get some of his economic package through.

SCIUTTO: Mark, I think you can make a pretty good bet that Trump is going to set his sights on Obamacare despite the fact that it's quite popular even in some in some red states at least in terms of those who've taken advantage of it, came really close during the first term. It took John McCain's vote to save it.

Does Obamacare survive this Trump administration?

LONGABAUGH: Yes, I think it does. And in fact, you know, like I don't know the mind of Donald Trump and but I think in the list of priorities. I mean, Governor Hutchinson touched upon some of them, and I think immigration and taxes are going to be right at the top of the list and behind that, you know, he's talked a lot about tariffs. I think he's got a big agenda.

I'm not so sure that he wants to walk into probably one of the toughest buzz saws that are out there. I mean, the healthcare -- healthcare is one of the few issues upon which Democrats is still a winning issue for us and I think there's now in inbred support for the Affordable Care Act and I think I think it's a tough even without John McCain in the Senate. I think -- I think it's -- I think it could be tough -- tough lift.

So --

SCIUTTO: Yeah.

LONGABAUGH: I'm hopeful -- I'm hopeful that, you know, stays in place.

SCIUTTO: We'll see you soon enough.

Mark Longabaugh, Asa Hutchinson, get back to watching football, and I look forward to talking to you again.

LONGABAUGH: All right. Thank you. SCIUTTO: Well, we do have news just into CNN. A source tells CNN that President-elect Donald Trump has offered the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to one of his most vocal supporters in Congress in recent years, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.

The New York New York Republican, a top Trump ally, there is no word so far as to whether she has accepted that position which is, of course, cabinet level.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are set to meet on Wednesday. One of the issues sure to be discussed is the president-elect's commitment if he has one to supporting Ukraine. We're going to have more on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:19:42]

SCIUTTO: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has launched a record number of 145 rounds Saturday night. The port city of Odessa residential outings and shops were damaged by those Russian drones.

Zelenskyy says in the last week Russia has launched a total of more than 800 guided bombs, 600 drones, and 20 other missiles, many deliver lee fired at civilian targets as has been so often the case in this war.

[22:20:10]

Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow overnight Saturday Russia's defense ministry says it shot down all 34 drones but that shrapnel caused some buildings to catch fire the attack also disrupted flights from two Moscow region airports on Sunday.

Joining us now from here in Washington is Kurt Volker. He is a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, as well as former us special representative for Ukrainian negotiations. Of course, a big focus going forward is what will the new president-elect do as regards Ukraine and Russia?

Good to have you on, sir.

So what is your best guess as to what's Trump's plan is? I spoke to a number of Trump's former senior advisers who told me Trump would most likely end U.S. military aid to Ukraine and seek some sort of accommodation to Russian territorial gains so far. Do you agree with that assessment?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: I don't agree with that assessment of course I'm willing to be proven wrong but what I see is a situation where Trump wants to end the war he wants this war to be over. And the only reason there is a war is because Vladimir Putin is willing to attack and take what he wants from Ukraine.

So if you want to end the war, you have to convince Putin that it is not in his interest the war, that there will be costs to Putin if he does so. What we know so far is that according to reports, Trump spoke with Putin on Thursday and said don't do anything new. That is already a beginning of that conversation is that you Vladimir need to stop the war. We hope that that's the way that they that that plays out but we don't know everything and we won't know everything.

But in terms of the dynamics, Putin is the one who is waging the war. Putin is the one who has to be convinced it's not in his interest to do so.

SCIUTTO: That is a fact and, of course, it is Russia that invaded in February 2022. But as you know many in Trump's orbit have attacked the Ukrainian president. They've made claims about him taking this money to buy yachts which is actually not true, and they've often in public made the case that that it was Ukraine's fault to some degree or NATO's fault that Russia invaded.

You know that school of thought, that is quite active on the right. And Donald Trump himself has often attacked the Ukrainian president and others.

So do you believe that was just campaign talk or that that exposes his actual view of this conflict?

VOLKER: Well, I honestly think we need to break this down. What you said about the views of some people on the far right is exactly right. They have said those things. They believe those things. They think Zelenskyy is corrupt or not a serious leader, taking American money, blah, blah, blah.

Trump has never said those things and so we need to appreciate the fact that he is maintaining a distance between all of those points of view. He has also not criticized Vladimir Putin, he's not said that this is a Russian aggression, it needs to stop.

But my view is that the reason why he is not criticizing Putin is because he knows he ultimately has to reach a deal with Putin and so he's not demonizing him but that doesn't mean that he misunderstands the situation on the ground. I think we have to see how this plays out.

And I would just remind viewers that it was actually President Trump who reversed the Obama administration's arms embargo on Ukraine. For years we had a ban on lethal assistance to Ukraine which Trump reversed and not because he was, all of a sudden, you know, challenging Vladimir Putin, quite the opposite. He was even having this press conference in Helsinki in where he was very warm towards Vladimir Putin, but he was setting the stage for future negotiations.

SCIUTTO: Well, to be fair, yes, he did -- he did allow the supply of lethal aid to Ukraine but as you know he also suspended military assistance to Ukraine as he was pressuring Zelenskyy to open up an investigation against the man who was going to be running against him in the 2020 election. So it's been an uneven record at best as regards Ukraine.

And we should know, you know, it's not just folks floating out in the rightwing you know Twitter sphere who have made such claims. J.D. Vance, I mean, he in the last days of the campaign you know said something along the lines of who are the good guys and bad guys in a war that as you well know was started when Russia invaded.

So I just wonder when you -- when you put that together and you also add into it the president elect's frequent criticism of NATO, and his public statements along the lines of put that together and you also add into it the president-elect's frequent criticism of NATO and his public statements along the lines of -- well, if you don't pay enough money, then Russia do whatever the hell you want to the east. I mean, it raises at a minimum reasonable questions about his commitment to Ukraine, yeah.

VOLKER: Yeah, for sure. No, for sure. And I think that the point that I would go to is where Trump consistently says every time he's asked about this, he says, oh, this would never have happened if I was president.

SCIUTTO: Right.

VOLKER: Well, what do you think he means by that? I think he means that Biden is weak and he would be strong, and he would be seen as strong in the world. Now, that may be his own vision of himself and things but if that is his vision that he is going to be strong in contrast to Biden's weakness, then that means there needs to be a stronger posture towards Vladimir Putin.

And he often points to Afghanistan as a catastrophe for the Biden administration, this American withdrawal, this embarrassment, and he didn't do that. He cannot afford for Ukraine to be his Afghanistan.

SCIUTTO: It's a fair point.

Kurt Volker, always good to hear your point of view. Thanks so much for joining us this Sunday night.

VOLKER: Jim, thank you so much.

SCIUTTO: I'm sure we'll talk again.

Well, of course, another region we're following closely is the Middle East and it certainly changed a lot since Trump left office. America's approach to the region could do the same during a second Trump administration. How so exactly? How will he approach it differently? What we can expect, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:31:12]

SCIUTTO: You are watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

It has been yet another deadly weekend in Lebanon and Gaza. Lebanese media reports that Israeli strikes have claimed at least 80 lives you're looking at video from the town of Almat in Central Lebanon, north of Beirut. Almat is a Shiite Muslim majority village outside of Hezbollah's usual strongholds to the south and the east. On Saturday alone, more than a dozen separate locations were struck by Israel in Lebanon.

And then in Gaza, the IDF hit two homes there, killing at least 41 people. What you're seeing there is the aftermath of one of the strikes in central Gaza.

The other home was in Jabalia where one NGO says parents, children and grandchildren were among those killed. It's a pattern we've seen so often in more than a year since the war there started Israel once again said it was targeting terrorists.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is eager to turn the page on his often difficult relationship with the Biden administration and see Donald Trump a close friend and ally back in the White House.

As Matthew Chance reports, the prime minister and president-elect have already been speaking about what lies ahead for the U.S. and Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he and President-elect Trump have spoken three times in recent days, a sign of just how closely the two figures are now collaborating.

Netanyahu described the conversations as very good and important and quote aimed at strengthening the alliance between Israel and the United States. He added that he and Trump see quote eye to eye on the Iranian threat and the dangers that it poses.

Well, Netanyahu was among the first leaders to congratulate Trump after his U.S. election victory last week, calling it the world's greatest comeback.

Many Israelis expect the Trump administration will offer full throated support to the Jewish state, especially amid an ongoing Israeli confrontation with Iran and its allies in the region.

Matthew Chance, CNN, Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Full throated support. Steven Cook from the council on foreign relations joins us now for some perspective.

So, Stephen that is a view I hear it inside Israel. I hear it in this country that Donald Trump will give Netanyahu free rein to conduct his ongoing wars in Gaza and Lebanon and perhaps against Iran, expanding the one against Iran. Do you believe that's true?

STEVEN COOK, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: No, I think is a lot of spinning that is going on among supporters of both Israel and President Trump. We know that President Trump has when he spoken to Prime Minister Netanyahu, even before the election but certainly since the election, has told Prime Minister Netanyahu to get the war in Gaza over by the time he is inaugurated president. Now, he doesn't have any control over what the Israelis do or American

policy until then but there is that signal that that Trump will support whatever it is the Israelis feel that they need to do, but that they need to wrap things up by January 20th, 2025.

In Lebanon, there seems to be the potential for a diplomatic deal underway that the Israelis are fully in support of. And when it comes to Iran, President Trump has pursued in his first term what was called maximum pressure, but maximum pressure wasn't really aimed at anything other than bringing the Iranians to the table so that the president could negotiate a better deal than the one that his predecessor Barack Obama had negotiated with the Iranians over Iran's nuclear program.

[22:35:14]

The idea that the president-elect was when he was first in office somehow stronger than any of his predecessors when it came to any of these issues is really just has to go back to his bellicose rhetoric, but it doesn't have really anything to do with his policies.

SCIUTTO: Well, so let's talk two questions about Iran first on any potential negotiations the world has changed in the last four years? And the fact is Israel is far -- sorry, Iran is far closer to nuclear weapon than it was under the JCPOA which Donald Trump blew up in its first administration. It has many hundreds of kilograms of fissile material necessary to build a bomb. It's close, perhaps days, weeks away as you know.

How does Donald Trump navigate that new reality? And is Iran even willing to make a deal given the threat it sees? I mean, Israel has certainly exposed the weaknesses in Iran's defenses with its recent attacks.

COOK: Undoubtedly the case, but these are details that president Trump when he was in first in office didn't pay much attention to. The president is mostly interested in negotiating a deal so he could say that he got a deal. He fashion himself as a master negotiator.

His -- the book that put him on the map was called "The Art of the Deal", and he has everything to prove from coming back to office that he can turn up the pressure on the Iranians and bring them back to the negotiating table. His State Department, the head of his State Department transition team has as much admitted that the pressure will come on very, very quickly.

But the -- this is not a president who's interested in either regime change or a war with Iran.

SCIUTTO: The trouble is though, I mean, we're talking about strategic interests here, right? Iran is making a strategic calculation, it may, that it needs nuclear weapons for the regime to survive, much like the North Korean regime did.

Russia is making a strategic decision it needs to crush Ukraine uh because it doesn't want it to move in effect to the West, in Europe. It wants to maintain control over its near broad. The best negotiator in the world cannot change strategic interests.

So how does Donald Trump practically make progress? Let's just talk about Iran here given that's your expertise regardless of his art of the deal sensibilities.

COOK: You know, I'm not here to defend the president-elect or his approach to the world. I'm merely pointing out that his approach to the world is based on his idea that he can negotiate any -- any conflict he sees as essentially a transaction in a business deal.

I agree with you that it's highly unlikely that the Iranians are going to go for a deal with the guy who breached the original deal that they had with the United States but nevertheless that seems to be the same direction that the president wants to go. We're going back to the way things were in -- after 2018, after he busted the deal they're going to turn on maximum pressure yeah believing that the Iranians will have no choice but to come back to the table.

SCIUTTO: Just briefly as regards Israel and Iran, as you know, the Biden administration applied a lot of pressure on Israel not to attack too broadly against Iran and the run up to the election for instance not on nuclear facilities or oil facilities. Does Donald Trump attempt the same or does he say listen, do what you got to do?

COOK: No, I think when it comes to Iran, I think the president -- president-elect has time and time again shied away from confrontation. So I think that the pressure will be on the Israelis once again to avoid those kinds of targets should they feel the need to go back to Iran.

If you remember just a week or so ago, we were expecting an Iranian retaliation against the against Israel that hasn't happened and I think it's because the Israelis did so much damage to the -- to the Iranians. I don't expect that Trump will give the Israelis a green light on Iran's nuclear program.

SCIUTTO: Steven Cook, interesting. Thanks so much for joining.

COOK: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, talk a lot about -- a lot of big relationships. U.S. and Russia, U.S. and Iran, how about the U.S. and China? We're going to look at how the U.S. rivalry with China could play out under the new Trump administration. There are a number fronts, Taiwan is one of them. That story when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:44:32]

SCIUTTO: China is bracing for the unpredictable in its relationship with the U.S. under a second Trump administration. The president-elect has been vocal about his intention to impose sky-high tariffs on the world's second largest economy. But Beijing may be looking for ways to exploit Trump's love of deal making even perhaps it hopes on the question of us support for Taiwan. CNN senior international correspondent Will Ripley joins us now from Taipei.

And, Will, I wonder what is the mood -- what's been the reaction there in Taipei to Trump's election?

[22:45:05]

He is certainly -- unlike, for instance, President Biden who repeatedly said the U.S. would defend Taiwan militarily in the event of Chinese invasion, Trump has not said that and I've been told by Trump's own former senior advisers that he had no interest in defending Taiwan militarily. Are they afraid there?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Afraid wouldn't be the right word, Jim. But I think there's a lot of caution -- there's a lot uncertainty. There is optimism that under the first Trump term, remember, it was President Trump's administration that greenlighted $5 billion of weapon sales to Taiwan and unheard of amount of defensive weapons being sold that happened under Trump and a lot of the China policies of Trump actually continued under the Biden administration.

So if the same people with the same sort of worldview are advising President Trump on foreign policy the next go around here in Taiwan they feel like they've had bipartisan support. You've had a lot of high profile lawmakers visiting this self-governing democracy. But the uncertainty and the question of whether this transactional approach if President Trump were to feel that he could make a deal with Beijing, that would be so beneficial to the U.S. that Taiwan could get thrown under the bus.

That is certainly even though it's not ever spoken publicly by government officials who are very careful about every single word they utter on this topic particularly being caught in between Beijing and Washington certainly behind the scenes. There is a lot of conversations about how to make the best case through unofficial channels to President Trump and his people that it's in the United States best interest to stand with Taiwan, no matter what Beijing decides to throw this island's way over the next few years.

SCIUTTO: What would be the and again this is this is theoretical at this point right because the policy is not public, Trump's approach. But what do folks talk about hypothetically as would be parts of a Chinese deal that would somehow end to reduce us support for Taiwan? What would -- what would China offer in return?

RIPLEY: Well, obviously, from the perspective of people here who are watching what's happening in the United States, they believe it's all about the economy. It's all about dollars and cents and so what Taiwan has to offer in terms of the most advanced chips in the world, even though President Trump has vocally criticized Taiwan's chip industry led by, you know, TSMC, which is the world leader in producing these sorts of chips there's been investigations about whether they've been actually ending up in the hands of Huawei, a Chinese company the United States doesn't want these advanced chips to get a up because of military means.

So they -- in terms of what the deal with China could look like, they frankly don't know because all the old rules are out the window when it comes to President Trump and his decisions, his impulsiveness the fact that he's a mercurial leader the fact that he detests alliances with partners that he feel like aren't pulling their fair share. So what they're doing here in Taiwan is preparing for the fact that they might have to spend a significant amount more on things like defense. They might have to look at other ways to sweeten the deal if you will, but that's a tough, that's a tough bargain for a small economy when compared to the behemoth sitting right next door.

SCIUTTO: No question. Will Ripley from Taipei, thanks so much for joining.

Another story we're following tonight, powerful earthquake has rocked Cuba's eastern coast, just as the island is trying to recover from widespread blackouts and the impact of recent hurricanes. We're going to bring you an update right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[22:53:05]

SCIUTTO: A 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck just off the coast of eastern Cuba on Sunday. Cuba's president says the tremor caused landslides and damage to homes and in infrastructure. It comes as the island is still recovering from two hurricanes in recent weeks, widespread power outages.

For more on this, I'm joined now by Stefano Pozzebon. He's live from Bogota, Colombia.

I mean, this is an enormous earthquake, 6.8 magnitude and quite close off the coast. Do we know the extent of the damage at this point?

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Jim. Exactly, the quake hit just about 35 kilometers or 50 miles southeast of the Cuban coast. As a 6.8 magnitude quake which is pretty powerful. However, at this point, there are no reported alerts for a tsunami which is what the authorities were most afraid of, they were looking most at the damage coming from the sea.

Miguel Diaz-Canel said that the authorities are still evaluating the situation before starting the recovery efforts. But just like you said, the island of Cuba has been going through a lot just in the past few weeks. It was just on Tuesday and Wednesday that Rafael, the powerful category 3 hurricane, struck the west coast of Cuba, wrecking havoc and then you need to add that the that Cuba is dealing with continuous blackout due to a chronic shortage of electricity because they don't not get in petrol to fuel the generators to create -- to power up more electricity.

So, very critical situation in Cuba at this point, Jim. We not seen reports of deaths from the island nation, but we're seeing images of cracks in the buildings, debris on the streets, and you can tell that the situation will be continue evolving in the next few years and we'll be keeping monitoring it as it happens.

[22:55:04]

In Monday and Tuesday perhaps, it was just a very fortunate coincidence that these powerful quakes did not cause too much damage at this point, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. If that bears out, fortunate, we could say quite confidently.

Stefano Pozzebon, thanks so much.

And thanks so much to all of you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. I'll be right back with more news, right after this.

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